Susan Marsolais:  

My family moved to Irving Park Blvd. in the middle of my fourth grade and I finished the year at St. Theresa's. Fifth and sixth grade I attended Tennyson, then back to St. Theresa's for seventh and eighth. I spent my freshman year at Brookside, started tenth and then moved to Biloxi MS and finished at Sacred Heart Girls High School. I took Junior English at Biloxi HS that summer, skipped my junior year, graduated Biloxi HS in 1962 and returned to Sheffield Lake. I attended Brookside's 1963 graduation with my best friend and next door neighbor, Dolores Milner. I completed HS in three years at three different schools, which is why I identify with the class of 1963 with friends both from St. Theresa's and Brookside. In December 1963, I was working at Cleveland Trust Bank at 9th and Euclid. Hal "Butch" Marsolais from the class of 1959 was home for Christmas leave from Ft. Bragg, NC and asked me for a date. I had a crush on him since I met him in fourth grade when he lived across the street, and of course I went out with him. We dated until we married at Ft. Bragg in July of 1964 with a military honor guard. In 1965, our daughter, Michelle, was born and in 1967, our son, H. Raymond, Jr. was born. We traveled during Hal's 22-year military career, moving every year, which was very enriching for our children. During this time I worked at the banks on post. Hal retired from the Army in 1982, we continued to move every few years for his career in business and I worked as an executive secretary and studied art. When Hal became Director of the National Retail Hardware Assn. in Indianapolis, I decided that instead of going for a BFA degre...Expand for more